Poroshenko says Minsk deal ‘pseudo-peace’, vows to fight to the last drop of blood

Ukraine's president has said the Minsk peace roadmap – recognized by international powers as the only way out to the conflict in Donbass - is a "pseudo-peace", for which Ukraine is paying too high a price.

"We will fight to
the last drop of blood," Petro Poroshenko said in an
interview to the German TV channel ZDF. He
said his forces would do so to protect the eastern Ukrainian city
of Mariupol from "Russian aggressors."

Poroshenko has been accusing Russia of invading his country since
the start of the conflict by supporting rebel forces of the
self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics. The
claims are echoed by the US and other NATO powers, but to date no
solid proof has been provided. Moscow denies the accusations.

In the same interview to ZDF, Poroshenko said the Minsk
agreements, brokered by international powers, were a
"pseudo-peace." The Minsk deals are seen by every major
nation, including Russia and NATO countries, as the only way to
peace in Ukraine, with diplomats urging all sides in the conflict
to adhere to all the deal’s points.

Poroshenko himself earlier said he honored the Minsk deal. In
fact, in the ZDF interview, he said he remained committed and saw
no military solution to the conflict - despite his own earlier
words about fighting to the last.

The Ukrainian president said his country was paying "too high
a price" for adhering to the Minsk deals, saying 83 soldiers
have died since the turning point talks in February.

During the interview, Poroshenko also disowned his earlier
statement, in which he vowed to free Donetsk Airport. "I
advise you not to read Russian newspapers. They are the only
source where you can find such nonsense," he told ZDF.

The statement he made just three days before that is actually
transcribed on his official website and reads: "I have no doubt -
we will free the airport, because it is our land. And we will
rebuild the airport." It was made after the first showing of a
documentary dedicated to Donetsk Airport and the eight-month-long
siege it endured before falling into the hands of anti-government
forces.

That statement drew reaction from both Moscow and Washington. The
Kremlin spokesman said it "clearly violated the Minsk
agreements," adding that Kiev repeatedly breached the deals
before.

US Secretary of State John Kerry advised Poroshenko to "think
twice" before doing anything that could reignite the
hostilities in Ukraine.

Author and Russia analyst Martin McCauley told RT the Ukrainian
president is trying to antagonize Russia so that the West keeps
supporting him despite the recent statements by US Secretary of
State John Kerry. McCauley said: "Poroshenko] has got to wind
up the conflict and present it as one that is escalating so the
sanctions will continue, the United States will continue to
support Ukraine and so on. He is the one who is trying to tell
Kerry and [German Chancellor] Merkel: the situation is much more
difficult than you think it is."

At Tuesday's meeting with his Russian counterpart in Sochi, Kerry
said sanctions the US and the EU had imposed on Russia over the
Ukrainian crisis would be lifted if the Minsk deals are observed.

Canadian political scientist Brad Cabano told RT's Anissa Naouai
that Poroshenko could be antagonizing Russia for political gain:
"Everyone has to have an enemy, and I think in this case Mr
Poroshenko, for his own political purposes, probably to rally
people in the western Ukraine, has decided to target Russia as
the bad guy. It's a very simplistic way of looking at things, but
what's even more simplistic is to expect the several million
people that live in Lugansk and Donetsk to accept being placed
under the rule of a country that's killed and maimed tens of
thousands of their people. It's a situation that's almost a
'mission impossible' for Mr Poroshenko."